


To be Loved

by moroo1234



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Deeks and Eric are best friends, Eric Beale is a cutie, G Callen is protective, M/M, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 12:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14081415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moroo1234/pseuds/moroo1234
Summary: Eric never thought it would happen to him, he watched as his abusive ex-boyfriend walked into his office.





	To be Loved

"Hey" Callen kissed his husband,  
"Hey" Eric said lovingly,

"There's someone I want you to meet" Callen said "Will!"

Eric never thought it would happen to him, he watched as his abusive ex-boyfriend walked into his office.

"H- hi.."

"Hi" Will smiled like they were best friends,

"Will is gonna help us with the new case" Callen explained,

"Callen told me so much about you." Will said, his voice sounded nice, cheerful, definitely happier from that time when he used to date Eric.

"I- yeah, It's- it's good to know." Eric stuttered,

"Wait here, I'm gonna get the files and we'll go" Callen said, he ran downstairs to his desk and left the two alone.

"So you're married now, nice." Will smirked

"Drop the small talk, he doesn't know you tried to kill me a couple years ago"

"You call it trying to kill you, I call it my cheating boyfriend." Will had the same scary smile, where everyone thought he was nice, but only those who really knew him knew what it meant.

"I didn't cheat on you." Eric said "I just left you." 

"You, left me?" Will laughed but put his serious look again "look, Eric, all you gotta do is just to not tell Callen. We both know it'll be better for you."

"And what if I'll tell him?" Eric asked, scared.

"Then actions will be taken, like..maybe Callen would accidentally get shot..or maybe someone forgot the backup." Will said, his face looked scary and Eric felt intimidated.

"Don't." Eric tried to sound confident, it didn't work.

"You see how easy it for me to just..do something?" Will walked a couple steps toward him, Eric stepped back from the instinct to protect himself.

"Yes" Eric said quietly,

"Good," Will said, and then added with his fake cheery voice "you're really nice, Eric"

"I see you two are already bonding" Callen laughed,

"Yeah, it's really a nice office that you have, Callen, and your husband is even nicer." Will said,

"I..I'm going. I'll be back later." Eric ran outside of the building, he crouched next to a tree and tried to breathe, he felt his throat closing and the tears coming to his eyes.

"Eric?" Eric heard Deeks call "What happened?"

"He's back." Eric said between his breathes,

"Who's back? Eric, talk to me." Deeks put his hand on Eric's shoulder, Eric flinched and Deeks immediately lifted his hands to show Eric that he's not here to hurt him.

"Will. My ex boyfriend." 

Deeks stared at him in shock "Your what?"

Eric just kept sobbing, he pressed his hands to his eyes to stop the tears, but it didn't help.

"Come on, let's go." Deeks helped him get up "we'll go to some place where we could talk"

They drove to a small coffee house, they found it after one of the cases, Eric loved places like this, only he usually came with Callen, not Deeks.

"So tell me what happened?" Deeks asked once they got their order,

"I had a boyfriend before Callen, he was terrible." Eric admitted,

"Will?" Deeks asked,

"Yes, it happened when I worked in San Diego, he would hit me and call me names, saying I was worthless and useless and everyone would be happier without me"

"You know it's not true, right?" Deeks asked, but a look into Eric's eyes gave him the answer he didn't want "It's not true, you're smart, and beautiful, Callen didn't fall in love with you for nothing."

Eric took a deep breath and continued talking "I was with him for three years, I stopped talking to every friend he didn't like, I stopped calling my parents because he thought they were trying to take me away, he was afraid my best friend was trying to hit on me."

"And what happened then?"

"I got a job offer from Hetty...he wanted me to say no, I moved to Los Angeles in the middle of the night and I never saw him again..until now."

After a moment of silence Deeks asked "Does Callen know?"

"He knows that I had boyfriends before him, and that's it."

"You have to tell him..he's helping us solve a case, he is a case." 

"Please don't tell anyone" Eric begged,

"What about Sam? Kensi?" Deeks wandered,

"They'll probably want to tell Callen. Please, don't."

Deeks' phone rang "Hello?" He asked "yes, he's with me, we..uh...we went to see if we could find something..we'll be right back"

"Callen?" Eric guessed after Deeks put the phone down,

"He's worried without even knowing that something happened" Deeks smirked,

"Please, don't say a word."

Deeks sighed "I won't." He said,

"Thank you" Eric said sincerely "now, let's go back before Callen goes crazy."

Deeks grinned to himself and walked after Eric back to the car, thinking about the conversation he just had.

"Eric!" Callen called when they walked into the office "can you take Will and show him the computers?"

"No!" Deeks yelled "I..mean..no, I'll do it. Let's go."

"Did something happen?" Callen ask,

"Nope, nothing, I'm just a little bit anxious because of the new system we have" Deeks lied "I..want to try it myself."

"Oh. Ok."

Eric took the chance to quickly ran to his office, he didn't want to avoid Callen but it was the only way to keep him safe.

Days has gone by, Eric managed to stay away from Will and stood next to Deeks, but they still couldn't solve the case.

Callen didn't understand why his husband hangs out with Marty Deeks all of a sudden out of nowhere, sure they were friends, but now..it was like they were best friends.

He tried to talk to Eric several times but was rejected by the young man with many excuses and reasons to why he can't talk right now.

"Eric!" Eric heard one day when he was in his office, it was Callen.

"Hey" Eric smiled at his husband,

"Listen, I'm gonna stay late with the team, Will needs some things about the file so he'll drive you home, ok?" Callen said,

Will. Alone with Eric. No thank you.

"It's ok, I can ride with Deeks"

"He's gonna stay in the office too"

"I can walk"

"Eric," Callen started "why are you trying to avoid Will?"

"It's nothing"

"Did he do something?" Callen often got protective over Eric, he wanted to make sure his husband was safe "did he hurt you?"

"No, no." Eric assured him,

"So?" Callen asked,

"I'll drive him." Deeks appeared next to Eric, thank god for his timing.

"We need you here" Callen said,

"I need to get something from my house, I'll take Eric home and I'll get the file so you won't bother Will" 

"Fine. But do it fast." Callen looked at the two for another second before leaving the room, and Eric could finally breath.

"Thank you" Eric said,

"You need to tell him" Deeks said, there's no secrets in their team!

"After you solve the case." Eric said, he walked past Deeks to the car and hoped he would drop the painful topic. He did.

The next morning when Eric woke up, Callen was already up, he knew something was wrong, because Callen always stayed next to him in the morning,

and it was probably his fault.

When he went downstairs, Callen was already sitting next to the table, drinking coffee, ignoring him.

Eric sat next to him quietly and tried to not make any noise.

"Can I ask you a question?" Callen said out of nowhere,

"Of course"

"Are you cheating on me with Deeks?" Callen asked, it took a moment for Eric to process the question.

He..what? With Deeks?

"I- no, are you serious?"

"Are you?" Callen asked again,

"No!" Eric said, he wanted to yell and tell him all about Will but he was so scared.

"Then why are you spending so much time with him?"

Eric didn't answer, he didn't know what to say.

"Eric, if something's wrong..please tell me."

"Will and I used to date." Eric blurted,

"What?" Callen asked, he got up from his chair.

"Will and I dated...he used to hit me and call me names..he made my life a living hell, Deeks was just protecting me."

Callen looked broken, his eyes were not in their usual hazel color but now they were deep brown.

"He hurt you?" Callen asked, Eric knew that there was no turning back from here.

"Callen..."

"I'm gonna kill him!" Callen yelled angrily, he didn't wait for Eric's response, he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door.

"Shit" Eric mumbled, it took him a moment but he finally caught up to himself and ran after his husband whose car was already gone.

He called Sam, the only person he knew would be able to stop Callen, but the man didn't answer, and there was no other choice but to drive after him with his car. His old, crappy, stinky car.

It took him 10 minutes to get to their office, Callen probably took five.

"Eric!" Sam called when he almost ran into the younger man "what happened?"

"I don't have the time to explain, I need to stop Callen from killing Will."

They heard a loud thud, followed by someone yelling some unclear sentence, Eric quickly ran to the voice, Sam with him.

"Callen!" Eric called, Callen was standing over Will, Will was thrown on the floor, his nose was bleeding and he himself looked like he went through torture.

"This is all you!" Will yelled at Eric, "You little bitch!" Will got up from the floor, he tried to walk to Eric but Callen held him and blocked his way,

"Don't talk to him that way." Callen said sternly,

"You just want attention! You're acting all innocent but you're a snake!"

Callen couldn't take it anymore, he punched the man. Again.

"Son of a bitch!" Will yelled, hand on his nose.

"Don't even think you can talk to my husband like this."

"It's what he does, Callen!" Will yelled "he makes everyone think that he's so adorable and so charming, he did it to me!"

"What?" Sam was confused,

"Will and I used to date." Eric explained,

"He made my life a living hell." Will said,

"You abused me and almost killed me." Eric remarked from where he stood next to Sam, who was ready to kill Will right now if he could.

"Is that true?" Sam asked,

"It was just to scare him, he needed to be obedient." Will said, then turned to Callen "you should try it."

"I.." Callen laughed "I should hit Eric so he would obey me?"

"Yes."

Callen stopped for a second before punching Will in the face, again. The man fell on the floor as Callen kept hitting him until he calmed.

"Callen" Sam said, and when Callen still hasn't answered he yelled "G!" He had to pull the younger man from the passed out Will,

"Fuck. Baby I'm so sorry" Callen sat next to Eric,

"I'm fine, it's ok."

Callen hugged Eric, they waited until the cops came and took Will, he would be arrested for 24 hours, in which Eric could get a restraining order though they all knew Will would be going to jail for a long time.

"What happened to this place?" Kensi asked when she and Deeks walked in, chairs were on the floor and papers were scattered everywhere "and what happened to you?" She asked Callen,

Eric looked at Deeks "Callen attacked Will"

"So you finally told him, thank god." Deeks sighed on relief.

"You attacked Will? But he was so nice!" Kensi called,

"He's Eric's abusive ex-boyfriend" Sam explained,

Kensi gasped "That son of a bitch!"

"Exactly what I said" Callen said,

"Was there ever love between you and Will?" Deeks asked,

"No," Eric admitted "the love never existed." 

"Then why did you stay with him?" Sam asked, avoiding Callen's killer glare.

"In the first couple of months.. I admit, I was in love, yes, but it was one sided..he hit me and he hurt me..after that I was just scared."

"Eric-" Callen started to say,

"Why did you never tell us what was going on?" Kensi asked,

Eric sighed and continued "He used my low self esteem..he told me to do stuff, and I obeyed, I was ashamed and tried to hide my past."

"Eric.." Callen tried to find the words to say, what do you say when you find out that your husband was abused by your co-worker?

"He would tell me that no one liked me, that I was worthless and useless and stupid and that my own brothers and parents never cared about me..he told me that you hated me. I had low self-esteem already, and I just....believed him."

"But it's not true!" Callen yelled, he couldn't take it anymore "you're the most important thing in my life..if something happens to you..I'm done."

"We accept the love we think we deserve.." Kensi quoted, 

"I was drowning in hate for myself and loneliness..and I got Will."

"And now you have me." Callen reminded him,

"And being with you is the best thing that ever happened to me.." Eric said, he held Callen's hand.

"Well, He's gonna be in jail for a long time so we don't have to worry about"

"Thank you," Eric told the team "all of you."

In the days to come, Eric was encouraged by Callen to file a complaint against Will, after that, another man came clean about being a victim of abuse from Will.

Slowly, men kept coming, saying that Will attacked them, or abused them,

Eric finally found his strength, he couldn't have done it without his friends, and most importantly, his husband.


End file.
